Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS) Downgraded to Hold at StockNews.com

Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS - Get Free Report) was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen downgraded Virtus Investment Partners from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $285.00 to $264.00 in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Virtus Investment Partners from $170.00 to $199.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Virtus Investment Partners from $264.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th.

Virtus Investment Partners Price Performance

NASDAQ VRTS remained flat at $239.64 during trading on Tuesday. 22,180 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 53,245. The company has a market capitalization of $1.72 billion, a PE ratio of 13.53 and a beta of 1.52. Virtus Investment Partners has a 1 year low of $165.00 and a 1 year high of $263.39. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $237.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $219.13.

Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The closed-end fund reported $6.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.96 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $214.59 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $196.20 million. Virtus Investment Partners had a return on equity of 18.83% and a net margin of 15.45%. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.17 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Virtus Investment Partners will post 26.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Virtus Investment Partners

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Virtus Investment Partners in the first quarter valued at about $901,000. Barclays PLC lifted its position in Virtus Investment Partners by 128.0% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 12,818 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $3,099,000 after purchasing an additional 7,197 shares during the period. Vident Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 2,562 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $619,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 59,223 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $14,318,000 after buying an additional 157 shares during the period. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its stake in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 66.3% during the fourth quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 14,019 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $3,389,000 after buying an additional 5,590 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.52% of the company's stock.

Virtus Investment Partners Company Profile

Virtus Investment Partners, Inc is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm primarily provides its services to individual and institutional clients. It launches separate client focused equity and fixed income portfolios. The firm launches equity, fixed income, and balanced mutual funds for its clients.

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